Anon(ymous)
Naomi Iizuka
The Pear Theatre
A young man is surrounded by people of many colors, races, and nationalities who answer his initial “Where I come from is far away from here” with memories of their own origins: “hills of green tea,” “waterfalls taller than the tallest skyskraper,” “monsoon rains,” “the smell of fried squid,” and many more. The man-still-boy struggles to remember and is coached by a suddenly appearing, mysterious woman in blue to “begin in the middle, on the border, on the crossing.”
In its intimate setting with an audience surrounding on four sides, The Pear Theatre presents Naomi Iizuka’s lyrical, poetic, magical yet harshly realistic re-telling of Homer’s Odyssey, her 2008-premiering play, Anon(ymous). Set in a present-day America where an immigrant young man — identified in the program as Anon but calling himself “Nobody” — goes on a journey across the country seeking desperately to find his origins and the mother he left behind. Utilizing mesmerizing movement, clever puppetry, engrossing sound and lighting, and an excellent cast of thirteen, Vinh G. Nguyen directs an Anon(ymous) that explores and exposes the stark isolation, ever-present fear and danger, lost identity, and a deep longing for “home” that millions of immigrants experience on a daily basis — perhaps now more than ever in 2026 America.
Please continue to Talkin’Broadway for the rest of my review.
Rating: 4 E
Anon(ymous) continues through May 3, 2026 in a ninety-minute (no intermission) production by The Pear Theatre, 1110 La Avenida, Suite A, Mountain View, CA. Tickets are available at https://www.thepear.org/.
Photo Credit: Mikenzie Gilbert
